Some of the world’s biggest companies have joined forces with the aim of measuring and reducing the carbon footprints of their suppliers.
The Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration – run by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) – aims to provide global organisations with a single, standardised approach to sharing information on climate change throughout their supply chains.
Companies including Dell, HP, L’Oreal, PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser have joined the likes of Cadbury Schweppes, Imperial Tobacco, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Tesco and Unilever in selecting up to 50 suppliers to work with them on the project.
“By bringing together the purchasing authority of some of the largest companies in the world, CDP will encourage suppliers to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions,” said Paul Dickinson, its CEO. “This will enable large companies to work towards measuring their total carbon footprint, as this is the first step to managing and reducing it.”
Participating companies will initially respond to the CDP’s request for information on matters such as greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reduction targets and climate change strategy during the first quarter of 2008.
Once this has been completed, a course of action will be decided and strategies will be rolled out by participants across their supply chains from May 2008 onwards.
“Our aim is to prepare ourselves and our suppliers step by step for a marketplace where measuring and managing carbon is no longer optional, while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum,” said Chris Wickenden, group occupational, health, safety and environment and social responsibility manager at Imperial Tobacco Group.
The CDP is looking to attract more companies to join the project, with the aim of bringing tens of thousands of suppliers into the process. In particular, it hopes the project will encourage suppliers in China to address the issue of climate change.
The CDP is an independent, not-for-profit organisation set up in 2000 to bring about a dialogue between companies and investors on climate change. Its membership comprises over 315 institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Allianz and HSBC, which have assets under management of more than $41 trillion.
For more information, visit www.cdproject.net.
